Was Meryl Streep at the Beatles’ Historic 1965 Concert at Shea Stadium?

Beatlemania reached its zenith on Aug. 15, 1965, when the Fab Four—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—played to 55,000 screaming fans at Shea Stadium. Though the band would continue for five more years, releasing critically acclaimed and culturally significant albums like Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Abbey Road, the Beatles’ power as pop sensations was at its greatest on that night in New York City.

So, was Meryl Streepthere to witness it firsthand? With the upcoming celebrations planned for the concerts’ 60th anniversary, fans are rediscovering a clip that shows a young girl, who looks eerily like the Academy Award-winning actress, being interviewed before a concert at Shea Stadium.

Streep said that she attended the historic concert at Shea (marking the first time a rock band played at a sports stadium). In 1990, when presenting Sir Paul McCartney with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd Grammys, Streep opened up about her Beatlemania.

“In August 1965, after I cried for about three days and promised that I’d do dishes for the next four years, my parents finally relented and they let me go into New York, on a date for the first time, to see this new English band that we were all so emotional about,” she said. “I remember I sat in about the 116th row, and I had a better view of New Jersey than I did of the little stage that was set up on center field.”

“I can remember the sight of those four boys running across the grass to the stage,” she added. “And I can remember the downbeat of the first few chords of ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and I can remember the roar that just rose up and surrounded those four boys for the next 25 years of our lives.”

So, that means that the clip is the first on-screen appearance of Meryl Streep, right? Not exactly.

As Snopes pointed out, the clip of “Meryl” comes from a 1966 CBS News interview, because The Beatles played Shea Stadium in 1965 and on Aug. 23, 1966.

The interviewer asked the Streep lookalike if she attended any of the Beatles’ concerts last year, and she said, “no, I didn’t get a chance.”

Streep said in her speech that she had a “little sign that said ‘I love you forever, Paul'” at the show. In the interview, the girl is standing without a sign. Streep was also 16 in 1965, whereas the girl in the video appears much younger. So, the girl in the clip might look similar, but she’s not Meryl Streep.

This is also where things get a bit fuzzy. Streep said she could remember the band playing “I Saw Her Standing There,” but Setlist.fm says that the Beatles didn’t play that song (from 1963’s Please Please Me) at either the 1965 show or the one in 1966.

It’s possible that Streep misremembered the song, or she changed it for one that sounded better in her speech.

Was Meryl Streep at the Beatles’ Historic 1965 Concert at Shea Stadium? first appeared on Parade on Aug 8, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared.

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